Little Project Ive Been Working On.
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:06 pm
bought a little motocross bike for my son about 3 months ago, I got a thing for projects and buying things cheap so I bought a little 2001 LEM 50 (Exactly the same as Husqvarna, ktm, beta, malaguti etc 50cc junior mx bikes) off ebay for £90.
It needed work as advertised, it started kind of but was very rough around the edges, leaky carb, no chain, bald tyre, brakes playing up but the plastics, frame etc were sound though.
Anyway I got it, stripped the engine ad piston and head was scored, further more clutch was fubarred, and crank had play along with the bottom end bearings.
So i needed to rebuild the engine, certain parts were expensive as expected but then i stumbled across a malguti 50 again on ebay with a good engine but not running properly, so i got it and stripped the carburettor and she fired up and ran a treat, stole that engine and put it into the LEM happy days.
Next was a front brake, the pads were easy to get but i needed the whole assembly, absolute nightmare to find!
Ebay come to the rescue again, this time a Beta 50, running fine but cosmetically hanging but it had a few very useful parts including a set of marzocchi front forks, a delorto racing carb, 2 good brakes, 2 good wheels with tyres and a very good spare engine.
So after a couple of hundred quid, some driving about picking up bikes, a good month or two off and on of evenings cleaning, stripping, re greasing, undoing, tightning, wiring, fitting, taking off,putting back on etc its finished!
Its been a complete nut and bolt rebuild, theres not one part on this bike that hasn't been removed.
Its not anything special of course but I'm not the type of person to go out and buy a new ktm 50 for £1000-£2000 and find out my son doesn't like it, and on the flip side I'm not the type to buy a £300 one and its a death trap.
It needed work as advertised, it started kind of but was very rough around the edges, leaky carb, no chain, bald tyre, brakes playing up but the plastics, frame etc were sound though.
Anyway I got it, stripped the engine ad piston and head was scored, further more clutch was fubarred, and crank had play along with the bottom end bearings.
So i needed to rebuild the engine, certain parts were expensive as expected but then i stumbled across a malguti 50 again on ebay with a good engine but not running properly, so i got it and stripped the carburettor and she fired up and ran a treat, stole that engine and put it into the LEM happy days.
Next was a front brake, the pads were easy to get but i needed the whole assembly, absolute nightmare to find!
Ebay come to the rescue again, this time a Beta 50, running fine but cosmetically hanging but it had a few very useful parts including a set of marzocchi front forks, a delorto racing carb, 2 good brakes, 2 good wheels with tyres and a very good spare engine.
So after a couple of hundred quid, some driving about picking up bikes, a good month or two off and on of evenings cleaning, stripping, re greasing, undoing, tightning, wiring, fitting, taking off,putting back on etc its finished!
Its been a complete nut and bolt rebuild, theres not one part on this bike that hasn't been removed.
Its not anything special of course but I'm not the type of person to go out and buy a new ktm 50 for £1000-£2000 and find out my son doesn't like it, and on the flip side I'm not the type to buy a £300 one and its a death trap.
